20150812協力除淤‧守護生命 Helping Those Affected by Soudelor and Safeguarding Lives with Love
Despite having weakened into a tropical storm, Soudelor still brought heavy rainfall to China. Seeing how it has affected so many provinces in China, my heart truly goes out to the people there. In comparison, those of us in Taiwan should be very grateful. That said, Soudelor still causes extensive disaster in Xindian and Wulai districts in New Taipei City.
And the farther we went in, the more serious the disaster was. In other areas affected by landslides over the last couple of days more than 4,000 Tzu Chi volunteers have mobilized to help with the cleanup work. Seeing how they lined up to pass along one bucket of mudwater after another. I really feel deeply for them.
Some of our volunteers are already in sixties or seventies but they still went to help with the cleanup. A group of our Da Ai Drama actors also went to help. See how every one of them was covered in mud and how our elderly volunteers worked so hard to help. What worries me the most is whether it is safe to travel to the disaster areas.
The basements of some houses have been completely inundated which will take greater effort to clean up. So, there’s still a lot of work to do. But our volunteers need a rest, too. So, we’d like to call on more younger and stronger people to help with the work. Our volunteers also sent excavators to the disaster areas to help with the cleanup.
They took care to choose the smaller ones so that could fit in narrow alleys. We’ve worked with a college to develop mini excavators which have also been used this time to lessen the workload of people. The water treatment system that we’ve developed together with an institute has also been put to good use this time.
The system can produce 15 tons of clean drinking water a day and has truly benefited many people. Seeing that, I’m very grateful. So, in times of disaster, where are Tzu Chi volunteers? They are serving right there in the disasters areas. But what we need the most now is people who are strong and fit to help the typhoon victims with the cleanup.
Yesterday, I heard that it was still raining in the disaster areas. The rain was very heavy, triggering landslides again. So, it is still dangerous in the disaster areas. I hope Tzu chi volunteers can take good care of themselves. I’m very grateful to them but I also hope they’ll take care of themselves. There are too many touching stories to share.
Every day, there are touching events in every part of the world. Tomorrow is the 15th anniversary of our Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital. We broke ground for the hospital on October 13, 1996. I still remember how the mayor of Dalin, county council speaker, and county magistrate kept coming to Hualien to tell me how they really needed a large hospital there.
Having assessed the medical situation there, I promised to build a hospital in Dalin. My promise was the start of an arduous journey. I began to call on everyone to help but we’d really encountered many obstacles. In 10996, the hospital finally broke ground. On August 13, 2000, the hospital was opened. Before its official operation, we provided free medical services to people for three weeks.
I still remember vividly that the first patient brought in by an ambulance was an elderly woman. Her leg was festered with maggots. So, our doctor had to pick out the maggots one by one. This is what I still remember now. All in all, our hospital in Dalin has saved many people’s lives. This is what our medical staff have been doing every day over the last 15 years.
Apart from serving patients in the hospital, our doctors also go to a mountain village without doctors to serve 24 hours a day. This is how our doctors give of themselves to serve the villagers with genuine, sincere love. They had to learn to communicate with the elderly there and speak in a way that they could understand. So, many of our doctors had to learned to speak Taiwanese.
They’re truly full of love. The way they give of themselves to serve people with love like this has attracted many people from abroad to visit our hospital in Dalin. This is how our medical staff work with one heart to serve people with love. Yesterday, Asst. Supt. Chen shared with us a patient with spinal vascular malformation. Only five in one million people have this condition.
After a doctor suggested surgery and embolization treatment to him, he went to Taipei for a second opinion. But as the condition was rare no doctors were willing to perform the surgery for him. So, he came to see Asst. Supt. Chen. He came on a wheelchair and pleaded Asst. Supt. Chen to operate on him. The operation was successful.
If it failed, he became paralyzed. But without the surgery, he’d also become paralyzed eventually. He recovered gradually and was discharged from the hospital. See how he can stand on his own feet and work now. This is our hospital in Dalin. There are plentiful things to share about the hospital. It’ll be 15 years old tomorrow which is truly an occasion worth celebrating.
Thanks to its birth many lives have been saved. See how our doctors have brought countless lives from the brink of death and helped them regain their health and live a normal life again. For that I’m very grateful and I wish them a happy anniversary.
The 15th anniversary is a major event and the hospital has launched a series of activities ahead of time. Instead of eating and drinking, they invited the elderly to perform for everyone the exercises that our medical team has gone to the community to teach them. Seeing that, I’m very moved and also very grateful. This I show every one of our hospitals does the best they can to serve people in society.
首頁 